


how far do i have to go? (to get to you)

by bechloehuh



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Pitch Perfect Fandom Drive, Post-Pitch Perfect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:07:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24667360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bechloehuh/pseuds/bechloehuh
Summary: Beca and Chloe are both spending the summer with their families. They’re only three hours away from each other, so after only a little convincing from Chloe, Beca decides to drive south to spend the weekend with her best friend.
Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Comments: 38
Kudos: 271
Collections: Pitch Perfect Fandom Drive





	how far do i have to go? (to get to you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AllTheGingerLadies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllTheGingerLadies/gifts).



> a gift for [allthegingerladies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllTheGingerLadies) ([wecouldhavebeenchampions](https://wecouldhavebeenchampions.tumblr.com/) on tumblr) for the [pp fandom drive](https://ppfandomdrive.tumblr.com/). they requested bechloe + fluff. thank you for participating! title taken from many the miles by sara bareilles.
> 
> rated m not for smut but for drinking, swearing and mentions of drugs (nothing heavy. this is fluff!)

Beca’s having dinner with her mom and her mom’s new boyfriend—Jason, she thinks his name is — when the first text comes through,  _ dinging  _ loudly in the otherwise awkwardly silent dining room. 

Her eyes automatically flick to where her phone is lying face down on the table, her fingers itching to pick it up and see who it is, though she’s pretty sure she already knows since there’s only two people in the world that she has text notifications on for.

It’s followed by approximately fifty thousand more notifications and she can already feel the grilling she’s about to get from her mother as she continues to eat her dinner, acting like she’s unaware of the texts coming through despite the fact that in reality, her mood is already lightening at the thought of talking to Chloe.

She  _ really  _ hopes it’s Chloe.

“Who’s that?”

“I don’t know,” she shoots back immediately, stabbing her fork into her pasta, “I’m not psychic.”

She knows it’s ridiculous to still be acting like she’s in her angsty teenage phase that had lasted much longer than necessary, before she was shipped off to the other side of the country to attend Barden, but she can’t help it.

(Beca’s not sure why she’s acting like getting a free college education wasn’t her choice. It was. She just doesn’t like to admit that she’s wrong, especially to her parents.

Plus, Barden may be the best thing that has ever happened to her. Not that she’ll admit  _ that  _ to anybody either.)

“Is it your friend? Kar—Charlie?”

“Chloe,” she corrects, though she immediately shuts her mouth when she realizes that she’s just proven to her mom that she  _ does, _ in fact, know who is texting her, and she rolls her eyes at the knowing smile that her mom responds with. “Whatever,” she grumbles, dropping her fork onto her plate and picking her phone up.

**Chloe:**   
soooooo   
i know we joked about it before we left but   
you’re literally a 3 hour drive from me   
so you should totally come visit   
or i could visit you   
either way i’m DYING to get out of this house   
and i miss you sooo much   
like it’s actually gross   
sorry for spamming you omg   
call me when you see these!!!!

Her smile grows with each new text she reads, and it’s not until her mom says her name to get her attention that she even remembers that she has an audience.

“What?” she asks, locking her phone and slipping it into the front pocket of her hoodie as she stands up from her seat.

“Is it Chloe?”

She hums, picking up her plate and taking it into the kitchen to empty her leftovers into a small container, not giving her mom the chance to ask any more questions. 

She reads through the texts again, biting her lip to stop the smile on her face from growing into a huge grin.

**Beca:**   
you just interrupted a riveting dinner with my mom, i hope you’re happy.

Only a few seconds pass before her phone screen is taken over by Chloe’s caller ID, and the picture instantly makes Beca laugh. She looks at it for a second before answering with a “what do you want?” and the laugh that Chloe lets out in response makes Beca’s heart stutter.

She’s missed that sound more than she’d ever care to admit.

It’s only been a few days since Chloe last called her.

* * *

Somehow, Chloe manages to convince her to drive down to Portland.

It doesn’t take much convincing, if Beca’s honest. She’s been cooped up in her mom’s tiny apartment for a month now. The most exercise she’s had is a walk around the grocery store and the occasional two minute walk to the on-site laundromat. 

The rest of her summer so far has been spent in her room or out on the grass in front of the row of apartments, laptop on her lap or phone in her hand. Mostly texting Chloe. Sometimes making music.

She supposes it’ll be nice, being out on the road for a few hours. Plus, she gets to see Chloe, so she’s not sure she could even  _ try  _ and convince herself that she can’t make it.

* * *

It’s 11PM when she finally gets off of the phone.

When she makes her way to the kitchen to get a glass of water before turning in for the night, she sighs loudly when she’s met with the sight of her mom’s new boyfriend hunched over the table in front of the couch.

“Hey sweetie,” her mom greets her as she turns towards the sound of Beca’s annoyed sigh, seemingly clueless to Beca’s discomfort.

Beca’s heart sinks when she looks around her mom and her eyes drift to the white powder on the table.

Her mom doesn’t even notice her grimace as she turns away, or if she does, she doesn’t mention it. It’s another incentive for Beca to get out of there, if only for the weekend.

“Um,” she shakes her head to clear away any negative thoughts brewing as she pours what’s left of a bottle of water into a plastic cup, since the rest of the dishes are piled up next to the sink. “I think I’m gonna visit Chloe this weekend.”

“Oh, that’ll be nice.”

Beca takes a sip of water before turning back towards the living room. Her mom’s red eyes watch her distantly as she leans against the wall.

“Does grandpa still have my old truck?”

“I think so,” her mom nods. “You can take my car, if you want.”

“I don’t know how long I’m gonna be gone.”

“You said it was for the weekend.”

She lifts one shoulder up in a half-hearted shrug, frowning as she watches Jason sniffle loudly a few times before lighting up a cigarette.

“I’ll leave you to it,” she says, not waiting for her mother’s response before she’s heading back to her room, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

She’s on the road by 8AM on Friday morning.

Jason, weirdly, had offered to drive Beca to her grandfather’s house to pick her truck up on Wednesday, and she’s so glad she decided not to sell it before she moved to Atlanta. The familiar smell as she hops up into it causes her eyes to water, but she quickly blames it on the dust when her grandpa asks her what’s wrong.

She had spent the rest of the day cleaning the truck with her grandfather, and most of the day after that packing her things and spending as much time  _ away  _ from her mom and Jason as she could, either texting Chloe or making mixes on her laptop.

By the time Chloe texts her, she’s already an hour into her journey.

Her phone, held up by a car mount with the Maps app open, buzzes loudly, and she glances at it to see the notification banner displaying Chloe’s name. 

She chooses to take a right turn off of the interstate when she sees a rest stop sign, pulling up into a parking spot and picking her phone up as soon as she switches the car off.

**Chloe:**   
morning!!! when are you getting here?

She smiles as she types out her response.

**Beca:**   
already omw. should be there by 11:30, 12 at the latest

She’s not surprised when the three dots signalling that Chloe is typing pops up immediately.

**Chloe:**   
omg!!!!   
i’m SO excited to see you, pls hurry

**Beca:**   
so impatient. see you soon

* * *

The rest of the drive feels like it drags on much longer than Beca would like it to, but after only three wrong turns and having to eventually call Chloe and put her on speaker to guide her the right way, she finally makes it.

She’s not surprised that Chloe is standing at the end of her driveway, phone held up to her ear as she looks around, seemingly not noticing Beca at first.

“Oh my God, Chloe.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t freak out but there’s a weirdo at the end of your driveway.”

“Hey!” Beca smiles as she listens to Chloe laugh through the speaker on her phone. “You’re such an asshole.”

She smiles, reaching over to end the call before turning left and pulling up in front of Chloe’s house. The excitement she has been feeling since Monday, when they had made the plans for Beca to drive down to Portland, increases tenfold when she watches Chloe excitedly make her way over to the driver’s side of her truck.

Her door is flung open and her arms are full of Chloe before she even gets the chance to turn the car off.

“Oh my God, I missed you  _ so  _ much,” Chloe murmurs as she hugs her tightly, face pressed into Beca’s neck. She feels Chloe breathe in, and the initial stiffness she felt quickly dissipates and she’s soon relaxing into the embrace.

“I missed you too,” she whispers as she closes her eyes, content to just stay like this for a moment.

And although the hug doesn’t last more than a minute, the way in which Beca feels so  _ full  _ afterwards almost scares her, but she quickly shakes the thought away. She’s sure that if it was anybody else, she’d push them off of her and make an awkward joke, but not with Chloe.

She’s not afraid to admit that she’s missed seeing Chloe everyday; missed her hugs, how she always slips her hand into Beca’s as they walk through the quad together, the scent that she leaves on Beca’s pillow after they’ve been studying all day and most of all, the kisses she leaves on Beca’s cheek whenever they say goodbye.

When Chloe pulls back, Beca isn’t afraid to let her hands linger on her hips for a moment before fully letting her step backwards to make room for Beca to get out of her truck.

And as Beca looks ahead of her at the huge house she’s parked in front of, it takes everything in her not to let her jaw completely drop to the floor.

She closes the door behind her, watching as Chloe skips around to the passenger door to take her bags off of the seat.

“I didn’t know you lived in a fucking hotel, Chloe.  _ Jesus.” _

Chloe laughs at her remark, bumping her hip against the door to close it. Beca rounds the car, eyes still focusing on the house in front of her as she blindly reaches out for her laptop bag, which Chloe willingly hands over to her.

She feels Chloe’s eyes on her as she stands and stares, practically mesmerized, and only looks away when she feels Chloe’s hand slip into hers.

“Want a tour?”

Beca’s eyes light up when she looks at Chloe.

“Uh,  _ hell  _ yeah.”

* * *

The first thing Beca gets  _ truly  _ excited about is the game room in the basement. She doesn’t notice the adoring look Chloe gives her as she throws herself onto the huge couch sitting in front of the home cinema screen, nor the way Chloe bites her lip when Beca tells her “that’s it, I’m sorry but I live here now.”

And if Beca thinks hard enough, she can imagine what it will be like to live with Chloe Beale. Annoying on some days, when Beca wants her space to do her own thing and Chloe is being her needy self, but exciting on other days, when they can study together without worrying about one of them going home too late. Having late-night movie nights and falling asleep together, making breakfast on the days that they don’t sleep in and making dinner together after class or work.

“I mean, technically,” Chloe says as she drops down onto the couch next to Beca, “we’ll be living together soon.”

Beca has to remind herself that the Bellas will be there too.

* * *

The next thing Beca gets excited about is the huge pool in the backyard. And she knows, technically, it’s nothing  _ truly  _ exciting because the Treblemakers’ house has a pool too, but this is different. This is  _ Chloe’s, _ and if they go in it, Beca won’t have to worry about other people being there and other  _ substances  _ that she knows are floating around the Trebles’ pool, which is entirely why she refuses to step foot into theirs in the first place.

And maybe it’s wrong, to be excited over possibly spending time in the pool with Chloe, but she lets herself feel it for a moment; she lets herself imagine that Chloe is equally as excited too.

* * *

The tour finishes in the kitchen and Beca wonders if Chloe did that on purpose, because she’s starving after only eating a couple of breakfast bars on the journey, and Chloe seems to be aware of that.

It’s something she’s noticed a lot over the past year that they’ve known each other; Chloe  _ always  _ knows how to take care of her, whether it’s making her food when she hasn’t eaten, or staying in her dorm with her when she’s sick.

She cooks two burgers and refuses to let Beca help her, so all she can do is watch in awe, savoring the sweet feeling of Chloe cooking for her. They talk about what they’ve been doing over the summer and what their plans are for the rest of it, and Beca tries not to think about how her heart lifts when Chloe tells her that she wishes she could stay for more than the weekend.

The domesticity feels nice; makes Beca realize that not only has she missed Chloe more than anything, but she’s missed the  _ feelings  _ she has when she’s around her too.

“Can you get me two plates?” Chloe asks, interrupting her thoughts.

And maybe Beca stays beside Chloe even after she’s handed her the plates, just to be close to her, but Chloe doesn’t seem to mind.

* * *

“What do your parents do?”

They’re sitting in the living room in front of the huge TV that’s playing a show that Beca’s not quite sure the name of, though it doesn’t really matter because neither of them are paying attention to it.

They started off sitting a few feet away from each other, and Beca’s not sure how but they somehow ended up scooting closer to each other, little by little, until their legs were touching and Chloe was close enough that Beca felt like she was suffocating with the proximity.

She hasn’t been able to take a breath without it catching in her throat since.

“Uh, my mom is an oncologist and I’m still not sure what my dad does, I just know he’s like, a CFO of some super prestigious company.”

“What?” Beca laughs, “how can you not know —”

“He’s not around much,” Chloe interrupts quickly, and Beca can only nod in understanding as she looks around the room, hoping to see something to use as an excuse to change the subject.

“I know your dad teaches at Barden,” Chloe says, pulling her gaze back to her. “What does your mom do?”

She gulps at the mention of her mother, though if Chloe notices her hesitance, she doesn’t mention it.

“She uh, takes care of old people. You know, in nursing homes and stuff.”

“That’s sweet.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She places her glass of lemonade down on the table in front of them and when she sits back, she brings her legs up to rest on the couch, smiling when Chloe immediately scoots closer to her.

Her eyes linger on Chloe’s face for a moment before she’s looking around the huge room again.

“Dude, why didn’t you tell me your family were billionaires?”

“We’re not billionaires,” Chloe laughs, sipping her glass of lemonade. “The house belonged to my grandparents. My grandpa and his brothers built it up from basically nothing.”

“What was he, like, an architect or…  _ Bob the Builder _ or some shit?”

Chloe shakes her head with another laugh as she turns and props her elbow on the back of the couch, resting her head on her closed fist as she looks at Beca.

“He was actually a car salesman.”

“Really?”

“His father —my great-grandpa—owned a building company. They mostly built churches and stuff. My grandpa spent most of his life selling cars but one day, I guess he decided to follow in his dad’s footsteps and build on a piece of land that his father left him before he died. I’m not actually sure what the full story is but yeah… his brothers helped him build this house. It actually used to be a B&B.”

“That’s so awesome.”

“My grandma made most of the money, though. They weren’t the traditional twentieth century couple at all.”

“What does she do?”

“She uh, was a surgeon. Ironically, she died of a brain tumor.” Chloe sighs. “Right on this couch, actually.”

“Oh my fuck — are you serious?”

She watches, ready to hop up off of the couch, as Chloe throws her head back laughing, shaking her head as she tries to stutter out that she’s joking.

“Chloe! Don’t say shit like that, oh my  _ God!” _

“Your face,” Chloe wheezes, leaning forward to rest her forehead against Beca’s shoulder, “you looked traumatized.”

“Dude, I am!”

She laughs as she watches Chloe pull away, using the back of her hand to wipe the tears that have formed in her eyes from laughing. 

“You’re going to hell,” Beca breathes out, laughing along with her.

And despite the tears in Chloe’s eyes and the fact that her face is red from laughing so much, she’s still the most beautiful person Beca has ever laid eyes on, and she doesn’t even try to hide it as she keeps her eyes focused on her.

“You’re so easy,” Chloe tells her, letting out a content sigh once she’s calmed down.

“Whatever, you’re a dick.”

Chloe laughs once more as she lets her arm drop to rest against the back of the couch, her hand landing on Beca’s shoulder.

Beca’s not sure why they’re sitting so close to each other—or how they ended up in this position in the first place—but she welcomes the contact, tilting her body towards Chloe as she brings her hand up to rest on Chloe’s bare knee.

The contact causes her heart to flutter and she knows Chloe notices how much her fingers are trembling against her skin.

She wants to mention how beautiful she thinks Chloe looks when she’s laughing, but her words get caught in her throat when she looks at her and sees that she’s looking at her lips. For a second, Beca thinks she’s imagining it, because Chloe’s eyes dart up to Beca’s as soon as she looks at her, but they quickly flicker down a couple more times until Beca sucks in a deep breath and lets it out slowly.

“You okay?” Chloe asks her, sensing her discomfort, though Beca’s not quite sure if that’s the right word for what she’s feeling.

“Yeah,” she responds quickly, trying—and most likely failing—to sound casual. “Are you?”

Chloe only nods, finishing what’s left in her glass and leaning over to set it down on the table. 

When she settles back down, she’s somehow closer than she was before. The hand that had been gently stroking over Beca’s shoulder is now twirling a few strands of hair around her finger, and Beca is finding it harder and harder to keep her breathing in check.

She goes through a million memories in her head; memories of hanging out with her friends over the years. Not once have any of her friends been as close as Chloe is to her right now, playing with her hair and occasionally looking at her lips like she wants to kiss her.

Beca’s not sure she could even  _ try  _ to convince herself that this is what friends do, because it’s  _ not. _

It still doesn’t stop her from feeling nervous, though. If anything, she feels more nervous at the thought of Chloe also liking her in that way; in the way that Beca has been liking Chloe since, what feels like, the first day she met her.

So Beca runs with the nervousness. She lets herself feel it as she strokes a thumb gently over Chloe’s knee and tilts her head towards Chloe’s hand when she tucks Beca’s hair behind her ear.

“I wanted to ask you something.”

Beca tears her eyes away from where she’s watching her own fingers nervously dance over Chloe’s knee. She looks at Chloe’s face instead, swallowing back the lump that forms in her throat when she catches Chloe looking at her lips once again before they dart up to look in her eyes.

“Yeah?”

“What happened with you and Jesse?”

Beca frowns. She’s not sure what she expected Chloe to ask her but that definitely wasn’t it. Part of her is a little disappointed that  _ that  _ is what Chloe wants to talk about right now, but the other is glad she asked. She’s not sure what she would have said, or  _ done, _ if they were sitting in this tense silence for much longer.

“Uh, nothing.”

“Bec—”

“No, I mean like,” she rests her hand flat against Chloe’s knee, trying to keep her eyes on Chloe for as long as she can before she feels a little uncomfortable with the prolonged eye contact and looks away. “Nothing happened, that’s the thing. We kissed and then… I don’t know, it didn’t feel right.”

“Why not?”

She presses her lips together in a small pout, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders to signal that she doesn’t know, and she really hopes Chloe doesn’t notice that she’s lying. Of  _ course  _ she knows why it didn’t feel right.

“So you guys aren’t dating or…”

“No,” Beca responds quickly, shaking her head, “no, we’re just friends.”

Her eyes drift up to look at Chloe who, this time, doesn’t look away from Beca’s lips.

“It was just a, uh…” she trails off, distracted by the intense look on Chloe’s face. “Just a stupid kiss,” she rasps.

She swallows, her mouth parting as she watches Chloe suck in a deep breath. Their eyes lock for a moment—a quick, heart-stopping moment that makes Beca shift in anticipation—before Beca starts to imagine that Chloe is slowly leaning in.

Only, she’s not imagining it.

Her eyes drift closed as soon as she feels Chloe’s forehead touch hers. The hand on Chloe’s knee tightens its hold slightly, and she shivers when she feels Chloe’s fingers softly brush past her neck to cup her jaw.

Chloe’s mouth parts and she lets out a soft sigh, which Beca immediately feels against her lips. She tilts her head, ready for Chloe to make the final move.

“Can I—”

“Chloe, I’m home!”

Chloe pulls back quickly and it takes a second for Beca to even notice. When she does, Chloe is already on her way to greet her mother at the door, helping her with the bags of groceries that she’d brought in with her.

Beca pushes herself up off of the couch, putting on her best  _ ‘everything is fine’ _ face as she approaches them.

“Do you need help?”

It takes way too long for her heart to stop pounding.

* * *

They spend the rest of the day relaxing by the pool, talking about everything and nothing.

Beca finds herself unable to stop thinking about the almost-kiss, and it only takes a few hours for her to completely over analyze it in her mind and come to the conclusion that her best friend wasn’t, in fact, going to kiss her.

Deep down, she knows it’s not true. She knows exactly what Chloe was going to do, but she hasn’t tried to do it since, so Beca figures it was just one of those we’re-in-the-moment-and-this-feels-right scenarios, so she’s fine if they never revisit it.

Seriously. 

She’s fine with it.

“You wanna go in the pool?” Chloe asks her, pulling her out of her reverie. She looks up from where she was staring ahead, blinking a few times.

“I don’t have a bathing suit.”

And she fully expects Chloe to offer her one of hers—she  _ is  _ that type of person—but she’s surprised when instead, Chloe stands and pulls her shirt up over her head.

“Neither do I,” Chloe says, as Beca quickly averts her gaze to look back towards the pool instead. “Guess we’ll have to go in naked.”

Her head snaps back towards Chloe, eyes a little wider than normal and her mouth open, ready to argue back. She stops when she notices the amused look on Chloe’s face, though, and she averts her eyes once more as Chloe slips her shorts off and drops them on the chair she was just sitting in.

_ “So  _ easy,” Chloe tells her, reaching up to let her hair down.

Chloe  _ definitely  _ wasn’t going to kiss her earlier, she tells herself repeatedly, as she watches Chloe slip into the pool in only her underwear.

And she’s not surprised, really, that it takes little to no convincing on Chloe’s behalf, to get her to undress and follow her into the pool. And although the water is a little colder than Beca expected, it still feels nice to cool down from the hot summer sun, which is now slowly disappearing over the horizon.

She floats over to Chloe—ignoring her laughter at Beca’s inability to touch the bottom of the pool—and reaches out for her, instantly pushing down on her shoulders and submerging her head in the cool water.

When Chloe comes up sputtering and splashing water in Beca’s face, Beca can’t help the loud laugh that she lets out—the loud laugh that  _ only  _ Chloe is allowed to bear witness to.

“You’re such an ass!” Chloe shouts at her, pushing her shoulder halfheartedly, though not hard enough for Beca to drift too far away before she’s floating further into Chloe until their legs kick together.

Even with her wet hair sticking to her face and her eye makeup smudged, Chloe is still the most beautiful woman she’s ever seen, and Beca is reaching out before she can even think twice.

“You look like a drowned rat,” she whispers as she tucks the strands of Chloe’s wet hair behind her ear.

“I wonder whose fault  _ that  _ is.”

Beca laughs, letting her hand drop to Chloe’s shoulder once more. Only this time, she doesn’t push her down, or away. If anything, she keeps her close—as close as they can be without it being  _ too  _ weird—and uses her to stay afloat.

They drift towards the edge of the pool, where Beca no longer has to use Chloe to hold herself up. They both rest their arms on the edge of the pool as they look out at the sunrise, and Beca’s breath hitches when Chloe’s arm brushes over hers for a split second before Chloe is moving away slightly.

Beca tries not to think about how much she misses the contact.

And it’s something else, the way she feels right now. Something that she’s been afraid to admit to herself for a long time, but something that she finds is quickly bubbling to the surface and she’s not sure how long she’s going to last without blurting it out and potentially ruining what they have.

“Hey.” She blinks as Chloe, once again, pulls her out of her own head. She’s about to ask her what she wants, but stops short when Chloe rests her head on her shoulder. “I really missed you.”

She tilts her head to the side to rest it on top of Chloe’s, sighing contentedly.

“I missed you too.”

* * *

It’s Chloe’s idea to go out drinking.

Beca would be happy to stay in and continue catching each other up on what’s happened in the month they’ve spent apart—which is admittedly not a lot—but she also finds that she’s equally as happy to do whatever Chloe wants to do, as long as they’re together.

She’s not so happy that the name of the bar they’re at is called  _ Joe’s Cellar, _ but Chloe had reassured her that it is, in fact, a safe dive bar and  _ not  _ a serial killer’s basement.

They’re three drinks in when Beca feels Chloe’s leg brush against hers under the table that they’re sitting opposite each other at. She’s already pretty cold but the action pulls a shiver from her and Chloe immediately frowns.

“Are you cold? Do you want this back?” She’s about to take off her jacket— _ Beca’s _ jacket that she gave to her on the way because she was cold—but Beca quickly stops her. Mostly because she’s  _ fine,  _ but also because Chloe looks way better in it than she does.

“I’m good,” she tells her, sipping her beer.

“Are you sure?”

“It looks way better on you.”

Chloe is smiling at the compliment before Beca even realizes what she had said. Figuring it’s too late to try and take it back—not that she would want to—she welcomes the pride she feels when she realizes she made Chloe smile.

Sometime between their first and their last drink of the night, Beca’s hand ends up resting on the table, where Chloe is stroking her fingers over her knuckles. It’s soft and loving, even despite the casual conversation they’re having about what they should do tomorrow. Chloe tells her about a beach a couple hours away, and although Beca would love to just stay in all day, she once again welcomes the idea. If Chloe wants to go to the beach, Beca wants to go to the beach.

And she wonders if Chloe realizes the effect that she has on Beca. She wonders if Chloe knows that she’d do anything for her (she drove down to Portland for her, for God’s sake) or if she too thinks she’s the only one having these feelings.

As much as Beca has tried to convince herself that Chloe was just caught up in the moment earlier, when she was about to kiss her, she’s finding it harder and harder to believe it. With every second that passes, and every look Chloe gives her—whether she’s looking at her when she thinks Beca isn’t looking, or simply smiling sweetly at something she said—Beca feels like the love she feels for Chloe is very much reciprocated.

“I’m really glad you’re here,” Chloe tells her as she finishes her beer, her other hand still caressing Beca’s.

Beca’s gaze drifts up from where she had been watching Chloe’s fingers dancing over her hand. “Me too.”

* * *

Beca’s not sure what time it is when they decide to leave.

She thinks that has to do with the fact that Chloe’s hand is still in hers, keeping her close to her as she rests her head on Beca’s shoulder as they walk to the exit. It’s hard to focus on anything, especially a mundane task like checking the time, when Chloe is so close to her.

“Oh my God, it’s  _ so  _ cold,” Beca hisses as they step outside. She only lets go of Chloe’s hand to cross her arms over herself to try and preserve some body heat, and Chloe instantly responds by wrapping her arms around her tightly.

“Is this working?” Chloe asks, and the two of them are sent into a mess of drunken laughs and tangled limbs as Chloe pulls them around the corner and turns them both around to press Beca against the wall.

It happens so quickly that it takes Beca a minute to realize what they’re doing. And the feeling of being pinned against a wall by her best friend maybe turns her on  _ way  _ more than it should do, but she chooses not to question it as her hands naturally come up to hold onto the lapels of Chloe’s jacket.

“You’re  _ so  _ pretty,” Chloe whispers, wrapping her arms tighter around Beca.

And Beca knows she’s been drinking but she  _ knows  _ Chloe; she knows that she’s nothing but honest when she’s drunk. She’s witnessed Chloe instigating too many compliment battles with total strangers in the past year to know that Chloe is nothing if not truthful.

Which is why she chooses to be truthful too.

Her eyes flicker across Chloe’s features; at her tongue poking out to lick her lips and her eyes, glossy and tired, fixated on Beca’s mouth.

“I  _ really  _ wanted you to kiss me earlier.” She swallows nervously, her jaw clenching as she watches Chloe blink a few times before smiling.

“What about now?”

Beca’s hands tighten their grip on the lapels, tugging them forward slightly until Chloe’s forehead rests against hers. She breathes out a soft sigh at the contact, letting her eyes drift closed when she feels Chloe’s nose brush over hers.

She manages to get a short nod in before Chloe is tilting her head and capturing her lips, her mouth immediately opening with a soft whimper at the feeling of finally getting something she feels like she’s been waiting forever for.

Her head tilts the other way as Chloe leans in closer, and she lets Chloe brush her tongue over her bottom lip as she reaches up and wraps her arms around her shoulders to pull her further into her. Chloe’s hands drop to her waist, tugging her closer and pulling out a breathy moan from the back of her throat. 

She feels the effect it has on Chloe immediately.

“Fuck,” she whimpers softly. The sound of Chloe cursing makes Beca’s stomach clench; her eyes squeeze a little tighter and she involuntarily rolls her hips forward against her.

Before Beca can pull back or apologize for maybe going too far, Chloe’s hand slides down her thigh and lifts her leg up, her own leg pressing forward as Beca grinds against her. The feeling of Chloe’s thigh in between her legs immediately reminds her of the fact that they’re out in public, and they  _ definitely  _ shouldn’t be doing this here.

So as much as she’d love to keep making out with Chloe, she would also like to avoid getting arrested for public indecency.

“We should, um...” she trails off as she lets Chloe’s tongue brush over hers once more before she presses slightly on Chloe’s shoulders to break the kiss.

“Is everything okay?” Chloe’s chest heaves as she looks at her, letting go of Beca’s leg when she pushes herself off of the wall.

Beca can only nod as she slips her hand in Chloe’s. She’s unable to resist leaning up to kiss her again, this time a little more gentle; a little more loving.

“Let’s go home.”

* * *

The sound of footsteps at the other side of the room is what eventually wakes Beca up the next morning.

Her eyes blink open tiredly and she’s not only met by the scent of Chloe when she breathes in deeply, but the vivid memories of last night. Even though they were both tipsy, she still remembers how it had felt for Chloe to kiss her against that wall, for Chloe’s hand to slip into hers as they ascended the stairs to Chloe’s room, and the tight feeling in her stomach that spread to the tips of her toes as she watched Chloe drop to her knees, even before they could make it to the bed.

She turns around toward the sound of the footsteps, immediately smiling when she sees Chloe watching her as she makes her way back towards the bed.

When she climbs in beside her, Beca welcomes the gentle kiss that Chloe presses against her lips.

“Morning,” Chloe whispers, pressing one more lingering kiss against her cheek before pulling back to lay beside her. “Did I wake you?”

Beca shakes her head as she cuddles into Chloe, resting her head on her chest as Chloe’s arms wrap around her protectively.

In the short silence that falls over them before Chloe asks her if she’s okay with what happened last night, Beca doesn’t try to argue with herself about whether this was a mistake, or whether Chloe wants to remain friends or take this further. She lets herself feel content for once. Like this is exactly what should have happened.

“I am,” she says, before looking up at Chloe. “Are you?”

_ “God, _ yes,” Chloe laughs, kissing Beca’s forehead and wrapping her up in a tight hug. “Honestly, Bec?” There’s a quiet sincerity to her voice as she continues, this time in a soft murmur that draws Beca’s adoring gaze up toward Chloe’s face “I feel like I’ve been waiting forever for you.”

Beca understands the feeling—she feels like she’s been waiting that long too.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! if you enjoy my writing, please follow me on [tumblr](http://bechloehuh.tumblr.com/), and please consider taking part in the fandom drive. [(more information here.)](https://ppfandomdrive.tumblr.com/post/619946185015377920/thanks-to-sketchywave-for-the-poster-if-youre)
> 
> big thank you to [ellie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmylm/pseuds/tmylm) for proofreading and helping me out with the ending.


End file.
